The present invention relates to the construction industry, and more particularly to equipment to be used in the construction industry, power equipment of great and worldwide importance.
Still more particularly, the present invention relates to and provides mechanized equipment for the primary usefulness of raising items of building materials, particularly shingles, to a raised position of the roof edge of residential construction.
Further, the invention relates to a device in which a bundle of shingles may be raised from the ground to the roof automatically upon actuation control by the user.
Considering primarily the field of asphalt shingles, and other type of shingles for residential housing construction, in general contrast to multi-floor commercial construction, the field of residential housing has had several problems for scores of years.
For example, the roofing is often considered to be in a sense a specialized task, and the cost of the roofing is a very significant part, of the overall job cost; and thus the roofing is often done by a specialized contractor or sub-contractor, often quite relatively costly labor. And the cost, when consideration is given to indirect costly additions such as injury compensation, insurance aspects, and other items of realistic cost a considerable savings may be considered by use of this power equipment.
The act of roofing requires human effort as to raised elevation of the roof of the residence; and the task is so objectionable that there may be expected a problem in the assignment of the task.
Whether or not a differential in wage factors is significant in any particular installation, the problem exists as to the raising of the shingles, ordinarily packaged and sold as bundles which are significantly heavy.
And for many years this task of raising the shingles to roof height has been considered such a burdensome task, that it is often referred to as a xe2x80x9cback-breakingxe2x80x9d effort.
As detailed further herein, some progress has been made for some sort of mechanicalized shingle-lifting apparatus, but the Prior Art known to this Inventor has stopped quite short of the advantageous invention of this patent, which solves problems for a practical, rugged, convenient to use, and cost-justified shingles carrier, which have not been attained by the Prior Art.
The invention provides a novel and advantageous carrier, mechanism, primarily for the job of raising roofing shingle bundles, and this is achieved automatically in the sense of control by the user to lift and carry upwards one or more of such stacks or other items.
The device comprises a frame which carries a plurality of co-operating features, including a driving mechanism powered by an electric motor. The driving mechanism comprises a pair of chains and their associated sprockets; and the mechanical drive is such that when one of the shelf brackets carried by the chains reaches a top dead center position the object carried by the corresponding shelf bracket falls in an orderly fashion due to a baffle, providing convenience as the work progresses with succeeding shelf brackets sequentially reaching the top dead center position.
The mechanism is provided to have a sort of xe2x80x9cstop and goxe2x80x9d operativity, providing a safety control, avoiding the carry of one of the carried bundles until the previous bundle has finished its movement in which the baffle has moved that bundle to an out of the way position.
Further safety is provided by a cam mechanism which assures that the chains can move only in an upward direction when carrying a bundle.
Safety is further achieved by an angle bar gutter guard, preventing undue bending, leakage, or other damage to the gutter.
Other details are specified in the more detailed description which follows.
Even in hindsight consideration of the present invention to determine its inventive and novel nature, it is not only conceded but emphasized that the prior art had many details usable in this invention, details of both capability and motivation, but only if the prior art had had the guidance of the present concepts of the present invention.
That is, it is emphasized that the prior art had/or knew several particulars which individually and accumulatively show the non-obviousness of this combination invention. E.g.:
a. The prior art has had various types of material transfer mechanisms, for scores of years, of many shapes, natures, sizes and power drives;
b. Such articles have included not only various types of equipment, but have included material transfer equipment both horizontally and vertically in operative effect;
c. Such varieties of material transfer equipment and installations are well known for many uses and manufacturing incidents;
d. Roof construction has used shingles of various forms, with a need for lifting them from ground level up to the height of the roof, which, in residential use, is a lifting distance in the order of eight feet or so, and there has always been a need for achieving lifting shingles, usually kept and handled as heavy bundles, and the need for help in such lifting has been known for scores of years;
e. The disadvantages as to the lack of a practical means for achieving this bothersome lifting task are so great and would likely have been noticed by so many users and workmen, that this invention might have been born out of need but only if its concepts had been obvious;
f. The ease of tooling for the present invention has surely given manufacturers ample incentive to have made articles and modifications for commercial competitiveness in a competitive industry, if the concepts had been obvious;
g. The features of the present invention are reasonably likely considered by manufacturers and users to be of such an obvious advantage that manufacturers and/or users would likely consider lifting equipment of this invention to have massive sales opportunities to a great multitude of persons; and thus manufacturers and/or users would have been likely to have developed this lifting equipment of this invention, if its concepts had been obvious;
h. The prior art has always had sufficient skill to make many types of lifting equipment, more than ample skill to have achieved the present invention, but only if the concepts and their combination had been conceived;
i. Substantially all, of the operational characteristics and advantages of details of the present invention, when considered separately from one another and when considered separately from the present invention""s details and non-technical accomplishment of the details, are within the skill of persons of various arts, but only when considered away from the integrated and novel combination of concepts which by their cooperative combination achieves this advantageous invention;
j. The details of the present invention, when considered solely from the standpoint of construction, are exceedingly simple; and the matter of simplicity of construction has long been recognized as indicative of inventive creativity;
k. Similarly, and a long recognized indication of inventiveness of a novel combination, is the realistic principle that a person of ordinary skill in the art, as illustrated with respect to the claimed combination as differing in the stated respects from the prior art both as to construction and concept, is presumed to be one who thinks along the line of conventional wisdom in the art and is not one who undertakes to innovate; and
l. Far from being in a specialized field in which only a relatively few specialists, builders, workmen, professional persons or experienced inventors could have perceived and overcome this practically universal problem, here the vast majority of all persons, for scores of years, must be realistically considered as prime candidates for this invention; and thus its non-obviousness seems proven by history.
Accordingly, although the prior art has had capability and motivation, amply sufficient to presumably give incentive to the development of a novel and practical shingle-lifting means to the, present invention, the fact remains that this invention awaited the creativity and inventive discovery of the present inventor. In spite of ample motivation and capability shown by the many illustrations herein, the prior art did not suggest this invention.
In view of the industry motives and capabilities, it may be difficult to realize that the prior art has not projected itself to the combination purpose and achievement of the present invention, even though the need and use of helpful lifting equipment in residential construction is a widespread and quite universal factor, and the carpentry and power equipment industries are quite commercial and competitive. Further, shingle roofing contractors users surely include an uncountable multitude of inventors and other persons, even xe2x80x9cdo it yourselfxe2x80x9d homeowners, at least of sufficient experience, skill, etc., that the present invention would have been desired and attempted, and perhaps achieved, long ago, but only if its factors and combination-nature had been obvious.
In spite of all such factors of the prior art, the problem here solved awaited the inventor""s consideration, ideas, and creativity. More particularly as to the novelty here of the invention as considered as a whole, the summary of the prior art uses and needs helps show its contrast to the present concepts, and emphasizes the advantages, novelty, and the inventive significance of the present concepts as are here shown, particularly as to utility and convenience of use as detailed herein, as to apparatus and a procedure.
Although varieties of prior art are conceded, and ample motivation is shown, and full capability in the prior art is conceded, no prior art shows or suggests details of the overall combination of the present invention, as is the proper and accepted way of considering the inventiveness nature of the concepts.
That is, although the prior art may show an approach to the overall invention, it is determinatively significant that none of the prior art shows the novel and advantageous concepts in combination, which provides the merits of this invention, even though certain details are shown separately from this accomplishment as a combination.
And the prior art""s lack of an invention of an economical powered material-lifting device feature achieving the convenience, ease of movability to any selected location, ease of use, simplicity of use, and other advantages of the present invention, which are goals only approached by the prior art, must be recognized as being a long-felt need accomplished.
Accordingly, the various concepts and components are conceded and emphasized to have been widely known in the prior art as to various devices; nevertheless, the prior art not having had the particular combination of concepts and details as here presented and shown in novel combination different from the prior art and its suggestions, even only a fair amount or realistic humility, to avoid consideration of this invention improperly by hindsight, requires the concepts and achievements here to be realistically viewed as a novel combination, inventive in nature, and especially is this a realistic consideration when viewed from the position of a person of ordinary, skill in this art at the time of this invention, and without trying to reconstruct this invention from the prior art without use of hindsight toward particulars not suggested by the prior art.